Over 13,880 summonses issued over illegal use of emergency lanes

SHAH ALAM – Illegal use of emergency lanes has been identified as among the six main traffic offences in the country.

Federal police Traffic Enforcement and Investigation Department (TEID) said over the past two years, over 13,880 summonses were issued for illegal usage of emergency lanes.

With that being identified, his department had made efforts to reduce the fatal accidents involving emergency lanes through an operation called ‘Total Enforcement’ method because fatal accidents in emergency lanes had also become a worrying issue in the country.

“There are 13,880 summonses involving the use of emergency lanes for all types of vehicles from 2020 until 2022 (Jan - Oct).

“There were a total of 4,091 summonses involving the use of emergency lanes for all types of vehicle in 2020, 6,940 in 2021 while 2,849 summonses were issued between January and October last year,” he told Sinar Daily.

Despite the enforcement, during the recent Op Selamat held in conjunction with Chinese New Year, many motorists were spotted using the emergency lanes along major highways on their drive back to their hometown.

On Jan 21, more than 100 vehicles were spotted and recorded driving on the emergency lane along the North-South Expressway from Johor Bharu to Putrajaya in a four-hour period between 10am and 2pm.

Police had also resorted to the usage of drone to assist with traffic enforcement to monitor traffic situation as well as identified those who used the emergency lanes illegally.

It was important for the emergency lanes to be used responsibly as illegal usage could lead to unwanted accidents.

On Dec 29, a fatal accident in Jasin, Melaka saw a 59-year old man killed while his son critically injured after they were mowed down by a lorry after stopping in the emergency lane to replace a flat tyre.

Transportation expert Rosli Azad had said that poor road design, whereby emergency lanes along the highways are too small and narrow to cater for lorries and other vehicles that have to stop for emergencies, would be among the reason why accidents happen on Malaysian roads and highways.

"In the case mentioned, a car with a flat tyre was rammed by a truck, mainly due to the high speed of the truck, an insufficient warning sign to give notice to a broken-down car and possibly also due to an insufficient lane provided for an emergency stop," Rosli said.

He added that many cases of accidents occur because there were too many reckless drivers on the road now compared to before and with too many of them on roads or highways where heavy traffic flow is now the norm, which was is a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen.

Aside from this incident, many other fatal accidents reported also involved the illegal usage of emergency lanes which have claimed many lives.

TEID welcome any information by the public to report complaints or road user traffic offences by sending pictures or video by email to [email protected].